A to Z Mysteries: The Hijacking Hypnotist
by hypnostories
Summary: Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose go to a fair and see a hypnosis show. Josh is selected to volunteer for the show. After the show a string of robberies across the town are commited, and Josh starts to act very peculiar. Now it's up to Dink, Josh and Ruth Rose to discover the thief's motives, before it's too late. This is "The Malicious Mesmeriser" remade. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

A to Z Mysteries: Highjacking Hypnotist

"Wow look at that ride!" exclaimed Josh.

Ruth Rose, Dink, and Dink's father looked at what he was pointing at.

"That does look like a cool ride , what does it do?" asked Ruth Rose.

Dink looked at the drenched people walking out and he concluded that it must be a water ride.

"It's probably a water ride, but it's a bit windy and I don't want to be wet." Dink said.

They all agreed and they kept walking down the pathway through the crowds of people. Dink's father had offered to bring Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose to the fair that had just come to town. The trio all wore sneakers, sports jerseys, and shorts. Dink's father had his Yankees' baseball cap on and he wore sunglasses as well. It was a nice summer day and the sky was clear. Ruth Rose always liked to dress in a single color. Today, she wore all sky blue.

"I can't wait to get some funnel cake." Josh announced while staring at all the concession stands.

"We just had some cotton candy, you don't want your stomach to hurt." Dink replied.

"I guess so, but I have a stomach of steel!" Josh joked.

They kept walking until they came upon rows of chairs and and a large stage with one row of chairs on it. A blue awning streched out from the top and the auidience seats were barely filled. On the stage, there was a sound system and a video camera. Alongside the camera was a tripod.

"Hey, what's this?" Ruth Rose asked.

"I don't know, but I can find out." said Mr. Duncan.

The group walked over to a staff member and asked about the event here.

"It's a hypnosis show." the man replied, "Starts in about fifteen minutes."

"Do you guys want to watch it? There isn't really anything else to do." asked Mr. Duncan.

The trio agreed that they should watch the show and they sat in the front row of the audience seats. Mr. Duncan left to go to the bathroom, leaving the three children alone in the front row. They noticed that more people began to fill the seats.

"Let's get some food while we're waiting." Josh said.

"Food must he the only thing you think about, Joshua." Ruth Rose teased.

"Hey, what's a show without some food?" Josh replied.

"Josh, there are lots of shows that don't involve food whatsoever." Dink said.

Josh went over to Dink and poked him in the stomach. "You guys are so unsupportive of my enthusiasm for food." he claimed.

"Well, Josh. If you want to gain our support, how about you go up and volunteer for the show." Ruth Rose suggested.

"No way! Not in a million billion years Ruth Rose." Josh replied.

"Well, are you too scared? Maybe your just too chicken to do it." Dink teased while flapping his arms.

"Well, you are what you eat." Ruth Rose added.

"I'm not scared, it's just that I heard it's not healthy to be hypnotized on a full stomach." Josh said while grinning.

Dink and Ruth Rose stared at Josh for a second and the whole trio laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Suddenly the curtains opened and a man walked onto the stage and introduced himself.

"Hello audience, my name is Carl Howard, The Amazing Hypnotist!" he yelled, "and I am here to show you the power of your mind!"

The man was tall and skinny, he had tanned skin and brown hair. He wore a blue polo shirt and khakis. On his feet, he wore black polished dress shoes. After introducing himself, he then began to ask for volunteers for the show from the audience. One by one, people raised their hands and got onto the stage to vounteer until there was one chair empty.

I need one more volunteer, folks!" he announced.

During that second, Ruth Rose had remembered that Josh had played a prank on her a couple days ago. Knowing that this was the perfect time for payback she quickly took Josh's wrist and held it in the air.

"Hey, knock it off!" Josh exclaimed as he pulled away from Ruth Rose's grip.

"You there with the red hair!" Carl yelled.

He was pointing directly at Josh as Ruth Rose and Dink burst out laughing. Even Mr. Duncan had to hold back a chuckle. The redhead gave Dink and Ruth Rose an angry glare as he slowly walked onto the stage. The man quickly explained how hypnosis works and he started to put people into trance by telling them to stare at a small dot that was positioned in front of them. One by one he started to hypnotize all of his volunteers. Eventually, Josh was the only one on stage who was not hypnotized. When Carl came to Josh he could see how nervous he was so he told Josh to take deep breaths while staring at the dot. When Josh was completely relaxed he told the boy to stare into his eyes. The redheaded boy followed this instruction as Carl suddenly pulled down on his arms and shouted "Sleep!". Josh's body instantly slouched forward and his arms dangled from his sides to the floor. Carl carefully placed the rest of his limp body him on the teen sitting next to him, who was already in trance. Ruth Rose and Dink looked on in shock at what they were seeing.

"I can't believe it actually worked." Dink said.

"I know," Ruth Rose replied while taking out her camera. "Oh, I am definitely recording this!"

The man had each volunteer introduce himself and he moved his volunteers around a bit. He placed Josh almost in the dead center of the group.

"Now, let's have some fun!" Carl shouted.

Carl looked through his entire volunteer group and he stopped at Josh. The hypnotist put his hand on Josh's shoulder and he told the boy to believe that he woke up, he would have no shorts on. The crowd roared and Carl woke the redhead up out of hypnosis.

"So, where are your shorts?" teased the hypnotist.

Josh frantically looked around and ran behind the chairs on stage. The entire audience laughed at what was happening on the stage.

"Where did my shorts go!" Josh shrieked.

Dink and Ruth Rose were out of breath as they laughed at what Josh was doing. Then, with the snap of a finger, Josh's body went limp and he was put back into a trance. Next, he turned them into chickens, and even Mr. Duncan let out a small giggle as the redheaded boy flapped his arms and clucked loudly. After that Carl made the volunteers believe they were babies, and Josh crawled around slowly on all fours as drops of saliva dripped from his mouth and landed all over his jersey. After that, the hypnotist turned the volunteers into dogs, and then he had them believe they were fashion models. Towards the end of the show, he had all the volunteers believe they were doing karaoke. The crowd roared as Josh took the attention of the audience with his spectacular singing and dance moves. Even Dink and Ruth Rose were surprised at how well Josh danced. At the end of the show, Carl had Josh do his karaoke performance by himself in front of the whole audience. All of the spectators cheered and laughed.

"How do you feel, Josh!" Carl asked through his microphone.

"Great!" Josh sung loudly back.

"Awaken!" Carl yelled back.

Josh suddenly stopped in his tracks and a blank and confused look entered upon his face as he went back to his seat. Then, the hypnotist took all of the volunteers out of trance, and he told them to go back to their seats. However, he left Josh on the stage with him. Carl woke Josh up and started to ask him some questions.

"Well Josh, how was the hypnosis show?" Carl asked.

"I'm a little disappointed, I must've fell asleep because I missed everything that happened." Josh said as the crowd giggled.

"I know, there was a guy doing karaoke singing and dancing." Carl responded

"Aw man, I was sleeping!" Josh whined.

"There was some guy who thought he was naked, and he hid behind the seats!" Carl said while Josh laughed, "How funny is that?"

Suddenly Carl took Josh's hand and while snapping his fingers he said, "You know what's funny? It actually was you, ha ha!"

Josh's eyes snapped directly to Carl's and widened. As everyone in the audience clapped and roared, Josh grinned as it dawned on him that he was hypnotized and he did all of those funny things. Carl sent the redhead back down from the stage.

"This has been, Carl, The Amazing Hypnotist!" Carl shouted from the stage as he bowed, "We have more shows later on today, so come back soon!"


	3. Chapter 3

Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose walked towards the exit of the fair with Mr. Duncan. All of them had an ice cream cone in their hand. Mr. Duncan and Ruth Rose had gotten chocolate while Josh and Dink had their own vanilla cones.

"So, how'd it feel to be hypnotized, Joshua?" Dink teased.

"Well, it felt kinda weird at first, but then it felt really relaxing." Josh replied.

"Hmm..maybe you should give up art and become a singer! Singers make a lot more money than artists!" Ruth Rose said while grinning.

When they got into the car, Josh looked down at the dark stains on his sports jersey.

"Hey, what are these from?" Josh asked.

Dink and Ruth Rose giggled.

"Let's just say that when you were a baby, your mouth turned into a sink." Dink replied.

"Aww, gross!" Josh said while pulling at his shirt.

Mr. Duncan dropped Josh off at his house and he drove Dink and Ruth Rose home. Luckily Dink and Ruth Rose lived right next to each other. As then sun began to go down, Dink went into his room and got ready for bed.

The next day, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were walking down the sidewalk towards Main Street. They were heading there to get some food from the cafe. However, Josh seemed a lot more sluggish and tired than the other two. The redhead dragged his feet and he had large bags under his eyes. He also walked a little slumped over.

"What's wrong Josh?" Ruth Rose asked, "Stayed up a little too late last night?"

"No, I'm fine." Josh replied, "Just woke up a little rough this morning I guess."

"I don't know, are you sure dude?" Dink asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. There's nothing wrong." Josh said, seeming a bit annoyed.

Dink and Ruth Rose just looked at each other and shrugged. As they approached Main Street, they noticed that three police cars were blocking the boat rental and launch. A lot of people were gathered around the cruisers.

"Ok, folks!" a policeman yelled, "Nothing to see here! Move along."

The trio looked on from far away as the people dispersed. Officer Fallon stepped through the blockcade and the three children hurried to catch him.

"Hey! Officer Fallon." Dink shouted.

The police officer turned around to face the kids.

"What are you three doing here?" Officer Fallon asked.

"We want to know what happened to the boat rental." Ruth Rose said.

"Can we just go to Ellie's Diner already?" Josh asked.

Everyone looked at the sleepy redhead in confusion.

"Anyway...a group of robbers broke in last night and stole boat parts and engines." Officer Fallon explained, "It's just that, on security footage they looked highly trained. It was as if they were CIA Agents or something. The security guard also claimed that one of the robbers looked like a child! The worse part is, the security footage confirms what he said."

The trio seemed shocked at what they were hearing.

"Could we get a closer look?" Dink asked.

"Sorry kids, this scene is strictly off limits to anyone besides police and government officials." Officer Fallon said, "But you kids might have a better view over there."

The policeman was pointing at where the crowd was gathered before on the sidewalk. The three kids walked over there and looked at the crime scene. The front window had a perfect circle cut through it and there were no glass shards outside. The door had not been opened and nothing else had been damaged. You could barely see that the building was broken into in the first place.

"Wow, this is weird." Ruth Rose said.

"I know," Dink replied, "This is the cleanest robbery I've ever seen."

"It's as if the robbers planned this perfectly and practiced it everyday." Ruth Rose said.

Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose observed the crime from behind the police cruisers. However, as the day got warmer, they went insides Ellie's Diner for lunch. They all got hamburgers and fries with lemonade. However, Josh unusually didn't finish his whole plate. Dink and Ruth Rose looked at him with concern.

"I guess I just wasn't too hungry for lunch." Josh said drowsily.

"You're ALWAYS hungry for lunch." Dink claimed, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I am fine Dinkus. There's nothing wrong." Josh replied while sipping on his lemonade.

"Anyway, how about that robbery, weird huh?" Ruth Rose said, "Who do you think did it?"

"I know. It's so wierd how the robbers broke in. They didn't even break the doors." Dink said, "Maybe they were just professional thieves."

"Professional thieves in Green Lawn? I don't think so." Josh explained, "And also, why would they steal boat parts? Why not money from the bank?"

"Well, I guess we can't do anything about it now." Ruth Rose said, "The cops don't want us in the crime scene and the criminals seemed like they left no trace."

"We could go back to the scene and just look around to see if we missed anything." Ruth Rose suggested.

"Maybe we should just leave it alone." Josh said, "Let's just go back to the house and do something else."

Dink looked Josh in the eye, "When did you stop liking mysteries?"

"It's not that I don't like them, it's just that there is no way for us to solve this mystery." Josh explained, "So we might as well leave it alone."

Josh stood up from the table and headed to the restroom.

"Josh is acting really weird today." Ruth Rose said.

"I noticed." Dink replied, "What's gotten into him?"

Dink and Ruth Rose both exchanged looks of worry as Josh headed back to the table. The trio then left the diner and they headed back for the boat rental. They looked around the area while not entering the crime scene. Josh just sat down on the sidewalk and looked around while Dink and Ruth Rose scoured the area. The two children found nothing.

"There's nothing here." Dink announced.

"How could these burgalars not leave the smallest trace?!" Ruth Rose asked.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now." Josh said while shrugging.

Dink gave Josh a annoyed stare while the trio headed back for home. Dink was very worried for Josh and he wondered what had happened to his best friend.


End file.
